Heretofore lice combs have been formed simply by spacing adjacent teeth very close together so that lice or nits would be caught in the narrow space between adjacent teeth. The design of the teeth of such lice combs have typically been no different than the designs of teeth of any other styling type comb having a cross sectional shape which has traditionally been oval or sometimes rectangular. While this type of lice comb has been somewhat effective, there has always been the danger of not being able to remove all of the unhatched eggs or all of the hatched eggs of lice from the hair as a result of the eggs slipping through the comb in the space between adjacent teeth since such teeth typically have flat or slightly curved opposing faces.
Recent attempts at overcoming the disadvantages of the prior lice comb designs have involved creating teeth with portions that overlap into the spacing between adjacent teeth so as to further narrow this spacing. The result has been combs having teeth with complicated cross sectional shapes thus making the creation of molds for producing plastic combs complicated and expensive. In addition, such design tends to render the teeth susceptible to easy breaking.
An improvement over the prior designs have been the combs shown and described in prior U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,612,944 and 4,612,945. However, the comb provided by the present invention is yet a further improvement.
It is accordingly a principal object of the present invention to provide a comb useful for removing lice and nits from hair which generally overcomes the disadvantages of the prior art.
A more specific object of the present invention is to provide such a comb having teeth which are generally triangular in cross sectional shape in which the cross sectional dimensions of such teeth enlarge toward the base of the comb so that spacing between facing edges of adjacent teeth continually narrows to assure catching all lice and nits.
Yet a further object of the present invention is to provide a comb having teeth with interacting adjacent facing edges which serve to capture lice and nits, and which are provided with a supporting rib.
Other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the detailed description of the invention in conjunction with the accompanying drawings to be described more fully hereinafter.